Workplace Safety

Failure by businesses and their officers to provide applicable first aid equipment, facilities and training for staff may result in serious consequences, according to Safe Work Australia (SWA). A SWA spokesperson told Pro Choice Safety Gear that the level of first aid required in the workplace varied between businesses and that a risk assessment should […]

The decisions workers make when dealing with risk largely depends on their experience, the time available to make a decision and its perceived benefits, according to OHS specialist, Carmel Bofinger. Associate Professor at the University of Queensland Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre and co-author of OHS Risk and Decision-making in the Safety Institute of […]

Knocking Down a Wall: With more tension than a horror movie, a man takes a sledgehammer to the bottom of a brick wall with complete disregard for personal protection equipment (PPE) and his safety. Looking back at the camera, our guy offers a wry grin before continuing to pound away. You will look on in […]

According to Safe Work Australia (SWA), the business operations cost for a worker who suffers any type of injury or disease from work is about $6,800. However, the cost of a workplace incident can have far-reaching financial consequence not accounted for in these figures – outlined in Figure 1.1. Included in SWA’s cost analysis is […]

Healthy workers are almost three times more productive than their unhealthy colleagues, who take up to nine times the amount of sick leave each year. These are the results from a research by Medibank Private who found that the most unhealthy workers took, on average, 18 sick days each year compared to an average of […]

The difference between Compliance and Certification A product that has “certified” compliance to Australian Standards provides superior safety characteristics compared to one that has “stated” compliance but does not have the certification to prove it. Standards are set specifications designed to ensure products, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistently perform the way they […]

The most dangerours and most productive times of the week: According to 2013 non fatal workplace accidents data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monday is the most dangerous day of the week for workplace accidents, which most commonly occur between two to four hours into a shift. Statistical analysis website, FiveThirtyEight, analysed the […]

Investing in the mental health of workers provides significant financial returns for business, especially in mining where on average, $5.80 is returned in savings from every $1 invested, and manufacturing where the return is $3.50. The 2014 research, conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers in conjunction with Beyond Blue and the National Mental Health Commission quantified […]